Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

S he lay back against the pillows and watched him remove the handkerchief from his neck, his coat, waistcoat, boots and stockings. He regarded her for a moment, and then he removed his shirt.

She gasped at the full effect of his naked chest, he was a big man, she already knew this, but even her exploratory touches earlier had not prepared her for the muscular magnificence of his torso. His chest and forearms were generously covered in dark hair and the definition of his pectorals and stomach were the finest she had ever seen. His shoulders were solid and broad, and his arms showed the smooth lines of muscle she had detected beneath his clothing.

Her eyes travelled down his magnificent form to the generous bulge in his breeches and the solid muscles of his thighs. Her mouth watered, and she waited with bated breath for him to remove his breeches, but he didn't. Instead, he eased himself down onto the bed beside her a nd took her in his arms.

"Why-?"

He shook his head. "My way, remember?"

She nodded, her hands going to his chest; she couldn't resist. She sighed, running her hands over his skin and glorying in the coarse hairs over smooth, warm muscle. He smelt clean and of something spicy, she breathed him in, rubbing her cheek over his chest like a cat, and his heartbeat, hard and heavy, thudded through the cavity to her ear pressed against it.

His big hands stroked her back and his lips pressed kisses to her hair. One hand ventured lower and squeezed her bottom, pressing her closer against the hard heat in his breeches. His exhalation told her this brought him pleasure, and she pressed closer, moving her legs to straddle his thigh and push her body closer to his.

"That's good sweetheart," his voice rumbled through his chest. She raised her head, and he lowered his to kiss her, she ran a hand down his stomach until she hit the waistband of his breeches, sliding lower she pressed her hand over the bulge and squeezed. He gasped and she did it again.

"You like that?" she asked, slightly breathless. Her heart was flipping in her chest, but she refused to be afraid, this was too thrilling to miss.

"Yes, little flower," he murmured. He grunted when she squeezed again.

"Show me what to do," she said panting.

"Slow down love," he said kissing her again .

Rolling her onto her back, he pressed his thigh hard between her legs, and it was her turn to gasp. With his elbows either side of her head he stroked the hair off her face and stared down into her eyes. His gaze devoured her, and she shuddered, the liquid fire between her legs made her move her hips upwards into his thigh with an involuntary movement. Her nipples ached, tight and sensitive inside her bodice.

"For a man," he said, his voice soft but deep," half the pleasure is in his partner's pleasure. At least it is for me. So, if I stroke and kiss you, know that this gives me pleasure too."

She licked her lip and nodded. He smiled and lowered his head to kiss her neck and her bosom, his lips tracing kisses across her skin that set fire to her blood. He rolled them both a little to the side, and she felt him tug at her laces, loosening her bodice as he'd done earlier. But this time he went further and pulled her bodice right down to reveal her breasts fully. He groaned at the sight of them and muttered something she couldn't quite catch, but beautiful and luscious seemed to be in there.

He took one in his hand, cupping it gently and squeezing, his thumb caressed the nipple, and she jumped, gasping at the bolt of sensation that went straight to the place between her legs, where hot, aching desire was building. He bent his head and took the nipple in his mouth, and she arched her back with a sudden moan of delight as another bolt of pleasure made her thighs wet.

"Lovely," he muttered, turning his attention to the other breast.

Her appreciative moan seemed to please him too, and she tried to reach up to stroke him, but the gown hampered her. Realising h er dilemma, he helped her free her arms from the gown and went back to suckling her breasts, his flexing thigh continuing to apply pressure between her legs. She panted, feeling breathless and light-headed. She would surely have fainted if she was standing up.

Her hands ran over his magnificent back and shoulders and then down his sides. Boldly she squeezed his bottom and then tried to reach between them to touch him.

"Patience, Beth," he growled.

She uttered a huff of frustration. "This is supposed to be about you, not me," she said.

"It is," he said nuzzling her neck. "By pleasuring you, I pleasure myself."

"But I want to-"

He chuckled, "you remind me of the kittens trying to catch something out of reach." He stroked her side and she shivered, everywhere he touched her felt sensitised.

"Perhaps you didn't realise how aroused I was by your pleasure this morning?" He quirked an eyebrow as she stared up at him. "Just your hip pressing on my cock made me come sweetheart. Feeling how wet and luscious you were, knowing I could make you fall apart with the touch of my fingers, holding you close, breathing in your scent, your kisses, the sight of your bliss. All this made me lose control and come in my breeches like an adolescent boy. I'd be embarrassed if I wasn't so damned aroused, intoxicated, by you. You are my pleasure, Bethany."

She took a breath in lungs that felt too tight and blinked, her eyes stinging. Her throat ached. This man. The things he said. The t hings he did. Oh God, was it cruel to have her meet him when she knew she was doomed to die, or a blessing, a gift of pleasure before her life was snuffed out?

She reached up and kissed him, anything to relieve the tightness in her chest.

He returned her kiss, his lips and tongue teasing and arousing at once. Kissing along her jaw, he found her earlobe and nibbled, making her shudder. He whispered, "I promise I will let you touch me, rouse me, make me come, but first," he took a breath as if girding himself. "First, I will make you come and show you what your body is capable of. So much more than you realise, love." He licked her neck, making her whimper. "Please let me do this, I assure you, the experience for me will be extraordinarily pleasurable."

"Yes," she gasped, "whatever you want."

He groaned, his body flexing against her. He moved a hand down her body and pulled her skirts up. Shifting his thigh out of the way, he bunched up her skirts and stroked a hand across her pelvis, making her muscles contract and her breath catch. His fingers tangled in the triangle of hair there, and then the touch she had been longing for. She gasped as his finger speared her lips and stroked down and back up.

"So wet!" his groaned. "Spread your legs darling." She obeyed him, letting him explore and stroke her, his every touch an exquisite torture. It was, if anything, even more intense this second time. Her hips lifted, her breathing accelerated, her heart pounded.

She tossed her head, her hands reaching, grabbing hold of him, her mout h sought his neck in mindless kisses, as his fingers teased and drove her pleasure higher and tighter, wound her up and up, until she thought she couldn't bear it any longer and must burst into flame, that rush of indescribable pleasure she had experienced this morning.

And he stopped.

She moaned, hanging on the precipice, as he moved, shuffling down the bed until his was lying between her legs, his head aligned with her hips.

"What are you doing?" she gasped, panting.

He lowered his head, and his lips touched her sensitive flesh, in the next instant his tongue speared her lips and the intense pleasure, so sharp it was almost painful, made her hips lift off the bed and forced a cry from her throat. His hands gripped her hips, forcing her back to the bed while his mouth ravaged her intimate flesh.

It was so shocking and so delightful she couldn't contain her cries. Her hands clamped on his head, her fingers gripping his skull as the pleasure built again, winding tighter and tighter, her heart raced, her lungs couldn't draw enough breath, and she wondered vaguely if this was the moment she would expire. If so, she would die happy.

The rush of hot, rich pleasure built and built, as his tongue swirled and licked, as his lips sucked and nibbled, the intensity almost more than she could bear.

She whimpered and cried as his tongue licked the entrance to her body making her flesh throb and ache. He pushed her legs wider, and she was suddenly conscious of a deep ache inside her, of a desire to be filled up. The ne w sensation added to the hunger for release building inside her.

His tongue returned to teasing the place of most intense pleasure just at the apex of her lips, licked to the side and around it, sending throbs of aching want through her body until it suddenly peaked in an explosion of such intensity her whole body seized, and she forgot to breathe or think or anything, except feel.

She collapsed back against the bed gasping for breath, her body caught in wave on wave of aftershock as his mouth, gentle now, soothed her pulsing flesh.

"That was incredible," she murmured, her voice hoarse from crying out.

She expected him to raise his head as her grip on him eased, but he continued the soothing strokes of his tongue and in a few moments, she felt another throb of pleasure.

What? She moved in his grip, which had tightened slightly, and his tongue stroked with more vigour. Still light, but more purposeful, he licked lower, and he forced her legs wider again, she moaned as his tongue elicited an aching need from her.

He licked faster, and suddenly she was caught up in a rising rush of bliss and her body arched and convulsed. He held her tight through the spasm and renewed his assault with his tongue with barely a pause, driving her into another climax and another and another.

Her heart raced so hard she was sure it would falter, and her moans and cries got louder, as he wrung yet another peak of pleasure from her. Her thighs were trembling uncontro llably as she shuddered and begged, hoarse and breathless, "Stop, please, stop, no more!"

He gave her one last gentle lick and raised his head, easing his grip on her thighs.

She lay back heaving for breath and stared down at him. His eyes were black as night, he wiped his chin and licked his lips.

He moved up the bed and pulled her gently into his arms, stroking her back, letting her head come to rest on his chest.

"Rest sweetheart, we have all night." He kissed her hair., cradling her in his arms.

She subsided boneless against him and murmured, "I didn't know."

"I know darling, hush, rest."

He lay listening to her breathing evening out as she fell into a doze, worn out with pleasure. He smiled, shifting his hips, trying to get comfortable, an impossibility with the raging cock-stand in his breeches. How he had avoided another embarrassing release during her barrage of orgasms he didn't know, except concentrating on timing his licks and suckling to ensure her waves of pleasure had taken all his focus.

When he was sure she was asleep, he eased out of their embrace and rose. Reaching for the coverlet, he covered her with it and stole quietly out from behind the screen into the main room. It was dark now and the temperature had dropped a bit, but it was still warm enough to be comfortable without his shirt .

He lit a few candles and reached for the whisky bottle. He desperately wanted a drink. But he dropped his hand before he grasped the bottle. No. Alcohol was the last thing he needed right now.

He had promised her she could pleasure him, and alcohol would loosen his self-control. This was risky enough as it was, he wouldn't do anything to make it worse. His cock was rigid with unslaked desire, his whole body itchy with it.

Sinking down in the chair he put his head in his hands. He knew everything he was doing was wrong, but he couldn't resist her. If he stuck to the line he had drawn he wouldn't do any permanent damage, and the knowledge he was giving her would allow her to take charge of her own pleasure in the future, no matter whether she married or not.

The thought of her marrying some other man was excruciating. His heart contracted with a pain so sharp it stole his breath, his stomach turned sour, and his fists clenched.

Could he stand aside and see her married to another man? He had made her a half-hearted offer this morning, and she had rejected it vehemently.

He knew he wasn't good enough for her, but he loved her...

God how he loved her. The realisation washed over him in a flood.

Beyond a mild infatuation with the curate's wife in his youth, Seb had never been in love, and he was stunned by the depth and violence of his feelings. But he was also in no doubt about them. He loved her, with all his heart and soul.

He wiped the tears that formed in his eyes away with his thumbs, his emotions too powerful to contain. He would do anything to protect her from hurt. If she couldn't love him, he would watch over her from a distance and ensure that she was safe.

He should stop tonight's plan, but he had made her a promise, and he wasn't sure that he was strong enough to break it. One night of mutual pleasure? If that was all they could have, he could have? Could he deny himself that, when she wanted it too?

A sound made him look up, she was standing there, outlined in candlelight. She had pulled the bodice back on, her arms through the sleeves, but the fabric was crumpled and creased and her hair a tousled mess. She had never looked more beautiful and desirable to him.

He blinked and hoped she couldn't see the tear tracks on his cheeks. Rising he said, "would you like a drink?"

He turned away to fetch the porter and two goblets, surreptitiously wiping his face.

"Yes please."

He poured and turned to offer her the goblet. She approached and took it drinking thirstily. He downed his in a few swallows, wondering helplessly what to do. He was a mess. His innards felt raw, and all churned up. He could feel her standing near him even though he wasn't looking at her.

"Thank you," she said setting her empty goblet down on the table. She stroked his arm and then reached up to touch his chest, caressing a pectoral and tracing a fingernail over one nipple, his body jerked and sizzled in response, an indrawn breath he couldn't stifle. Gazing up at him, she said huskily, "Coming back to bed now? "

He nodded dumbly, setting down the goblet and allowing her to draw him back to the bed. She reached up to remove her gown, and he stayed her. "No, leave it on! I-don't trust myself if you're completely naked." He swallowed the lump in his throat. He had to have some barrier, something to remind him where the line was.

She looked disappointed but didn't protest, her hands went to his breeches, and he let her undo the buttons on his falls, but when she went to reach inside, he stayed her again with a hand over hers. "Not yet."

"Why not?"

"You are so impatient," he chided, gathering her close and kissing her. God, she felt so wonderful in his arms. Her mouth was luscious, and he wanted to devour all of her. He bore her gently down onto the bed, pulling up the coverlet over them and running his hands over her body through her gown.

Her hands ran over his chest, her fingers finding his nipples. "Do you like it went I touch these?" she asked breathless.

He nodded, closing his eyes a moment to savour her touch. His nipples weren't all that sensitive, but her touch was fire wherever she applied it, sending little shocks straight to his groin.

‘Show me how to pleasure you, please?"

He took a breath and let it out slowly through his nose, striving to reach for and retain control. It made him shake. The desire to roll her on her back and just take her was overwhelming, but he resisted it.

Reaching down, he pulled her skirts up and ran his hand up the outside of her thigh and over her hip, then across her belly. Re aching lower he touched her with feather-light strokes and murmured, "just as this is arousing for you," he said, removing his hand he seized hers where it caressed his nipples and took it lower to the gap in his falls, where his cock, achingly hard, jutted up. "This is arousing for me. Grasp me."

She obeyed his words and the direction of his hand as he closed it over her hers guiding her to stroke him. He gasped at the magic of her touch.

"So soft, yet hard," she murmured in wonder which made him smile through the blissful agony.

"Pull the foreskin down," he said panting a bit and demonstrating. "The head is the most sensitive part." He groaned as she followed his lead, stroking and pulling the foreskin up and down over the rim of the head. The eye of his cock wept from her touch, and he showed her how to pick up the fluid and smooth it over the head.

"The more fluid there is the better it - oh God! –feels!"

"Like this?" She asked, swirling her fingers over the helmet to pick up more of the fluid.

"Yes," he panted. "There is a pot of oil in the bedside table drawer, that will help."

She reached across him and found the little pot, he helped her remove the lid with shaking hands, and she smeared the oil on her hand and over the head of his cock and stroked. "Oh yes, that is much better," she said, and he groaned.

He wasn't going to last long, his hips drove up into her grip, and he panted, his hands groping for her body, he pulled her across his chest and kissed her deep and hard, one hand on a breast the other squeezing her bottom, her legs straddled his thigh, and he could feel her damp folds rubbing on his thigh, as her hand worked him with merciless speed.

She panted, "am I doing this right?"

"God yes!" each stroke of her oil covered hand was a lightning bolt of pleasure. "Try to maintain a steady rhythm," he panted.

She nodded, and he pulled her skirts up higher over her bottom so that he could touch her flesh, his fingers straying between her buttocks to stroke her as her hips writhed, dragging her sticky wet flesh against his thigh. His finger reached lower and dragged some of that wetness up over her anus and his finger swirled making her gasp.

"What- are you doing?" she asked breathless, her face buried in his chest while her hand continued it stroking.

"Pleasure," he groaned. "God, Beth that's good! A bit faster." He grunted as she obeyed him, stroking faster and the pleasure wound up another notch. Could he last much longer? He felt as if he had been in a constant state of high-pitched arousal for hours.

His hips thrust up into her touch, unable to keep still any longer. "Beth! Oh, fuck!" he groaned, hardly aware he had sworn out loud, his whole body consumed with the hot, liquid pleasure of rising desire.

Her hand squeezed and stroked and squeezed and stroked, increasing in tempo in time with his wild thrusts. His arms clamped her tight to his body as pleasure peaked, his balls pulled tight and the rush of volcanic bliss eru pted from his cock, spurting all over his belly in a flood of liquid fire.

"Fuck!" he groaned, grunting repeatedly with the force of his release. The aftershocks petered out gradually and his body collapsed back against the mattress and pillows, trembling in the aftermath of the shocking release from tension.

"W-was that good? Did I do it right?"

"God yes," he murmured, his arm tightening round her. He forced his eyes open to see her staring down at him anxiously. He smiled and leaning up with an effort, his whole body felt like jelly, his kissed her. "That was wonderful Beth, thank you."

She smiled and settled her head on his chest, she was still straddling his thigh and there was a sticky, cooling mess on his stomach, but he was too enervated to care.